Uni-President sees falling contributions from its subsidiaries

Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), one of Taiwan’s leading food makers, said yesterday that its earnings for last year were affected by falling contributions from its subsidiaries.

Uni-President reported net profit of NT$9.45 billion (US$319 million) for last year, down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, and earnings per share of NT$2.07, down from NT$2.39 in 2010.

While the food maker posted a 6.1 percent annual increase in operating profit for last year, its profit before tax fell 11.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$9.81 billion in reflection of a 12.9 percent decline in earnings contribution from its units.

Ton Yi Industrial Corp (統一實業), a tin plate and tin can manufacturing unit of Uni-President, posted earnings that were worse than expected, cutting its earnings contribution to the parent company by NT$530 million, compared with a year earlier.

Uni-President China Holdings Ltd (統一企業中國控股), a food manufacturing arm in China of the parent company, suffered a 39.9 percent year-on-year decline in net profit for last year after its gross margin fell 2.9 percentage points from a year earlier, largely because of the rising cost of raw materials.

As Uni-President holds a 73.5 percent stake in the Chinese operations, the falling net profit of the unit weighed on the parent company’s bottom line.

Securities

In addition, President Securities (統一綜合證券), a securities trading unit of Uni-President, cut its earnings contribution to the parent company by NT$340 million from a year earlier, the food maker said.

As for the core business, Uni-President said its sales for last year rose 5.86 percent from a year earlier to NT$51.83 billion, with sales from dairy products up 6.6 percent, revenue from tea drinks up 8.4 percent and sales from instant noodles up 7.6 percent.

Sales from its coffee division rose 21 percent from a year earlier, while revenue from its bread division increased by 3.8 percent.